SIP thread -- (Sub-Irrigated Planter)

CaptainSnap

Well-Known Member
Nice looking buds Tim! And yes Humanrob I believe that plants do cannibalize nutrients from their own leaves. I like to always let my plants naturally yellow out towards the end. Many times half my fan leaves are pale or have fallen off by week 8 of flower. I don't like to see this happening though until week 5 or 6.
 

PDX Joe

Well-Known Member
I'm struggling with defoliating also. On my GG4 in the sip, I stopped trimming because my understanding (which could be wrong) is that as leaves yellow late in a grow the plant is "cannibalizing" (or recycling?) nutrients from the leaves. I'm trying to leave some extra leaves on this plant so that if I don't have enough nutes in the soil to carry it through, at least it has some extra leaves to pull from. My logic might not be based on how things actually work though, wouldn't be the first time.
It’s a balancing act. Trying to get energy to the flowers rather than fan leaves, but also leaving enough fan leaves for the energy. I remove fan leaves below the screen not getting much light and some of the larger fan leaves shading bud sites. All others stay on.
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
I gave up on SIPS, my plants drowned.

I'm sure I did something wrong but if RDWC works for me, why fix it?
It's definitely a technique that takes some time to get used to -- especially if you are DIY'ing your own SIPs, that can add time to the learning curve because you have to design it with a broader fundamental understanding of the paradigm. I've seen a few home made sips where the plants are droopy and look like they're being over-watered, and I've built wicks so large that they over-saturated my soil. After a few grows I think I have them working well enough.

But it's good you found what works for you. SIPs are not the best way, just another way.
 

CaptainSnap

Well-Known Member
I ran RDWC for just over a year. Very simple and low maintenance if things are dialed in correctly. I got root aphids once and shortly after root rot and I was done with that. I still play with single bucket dwc now as I have bottles to use up and ph pens to use. Plus I like to tinker
 

CaptainSnap

Well-Known Member
Kinda off topic but Ive been thinking a lot on what to do at my place for my veggie garden. I have a small yard that is all sand. I've tried in ground and in fabric pots with no success. I'm thinking of converting a couple IBC Totes into 150 gallon SIPS permaculture raised beds.

My thought is to cut the IBC in half so I can get 2 planters out of 1 tote. I'd cut the plastic to be my water reservoir and then I'd sew a large fabric liner to fit inside the tote. The cage would support the fabric when full of soil. What's your guys's thoughts? Waste of time?

Here are some images incase you don't know what I'm talking about.....

Unknown-1.jpeg Unknown.jpeg
 

elkamino

Well-Known Member
Kinda off topic but Ive been thinking a lot on what to do at my place for my veggie garden. I have a small yard that is all sand. I've tried in ground and in fabric pots with no success. I'm thinking of converting a couple IBC Totes into 150 gallon SIPS permaculture raised beds.

My thought is to cut the IBC in half so I can get 2 planters out of 1 tote. I'd cut the plastic to be my water reservoir and then I'd sew a large fabric liner to fit inside the tote. The cage would support the fabric when full of soil. What's your guys's thoughts? Waste of time?

Here are some images incase you don't know what I'm talking about.....

View attachment 4109212 View attachment 4109213
Dude if you are all sand would you consider something like this?

https://richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

If you’re thinking long term and have the space hugelkultur is great way to go. Building topsoil with very little cost and after the initial workload very little effort.
 

CaptainSnap

Well-Known Member
Dude if you are all sand would you consider something like this?

https://richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

If you’re thinking long term and have the space hugelkultur is great way to go. Building topsoil with very little cost and after the initial workload very little effort.
Thanks for sharing! I am a big fan of hugelkultur....I happen to be converting our family large garden & orchard into a permaculture hugelkultur!!! Unfortunatly I live an hour north in town with a small lot. I like the idea of being able to move these beds.

I even plan to have mini hugelkulture in them. As I would line the bottom with logs, then some wood chips, then dirt, and topped off with compost!
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
Looking Great @PDX Joe ! I am very worried about the stretch I am going to get when I go to flower for sure I will be tieing the ladies down for probably the first 2 or 3 weeks of flower in an attempt to keep them lower. Same to you @Tim Fox ! Also I think my next grow I am going to try to do some aggressive mainlining and training try to get just 8 massive kolas per plant. I have such a hard time trimming things off though lol I have read so much debate on de-foliating and not... and I have done it and seen the results...I dont know just seems counter intuitive to cut away parts of the plant that are healthy.
I really had to allow myself to go "outside of my comfort zone" on this grow, especially early on,, I would read the mainling instructions and look the plant and say to myself, Ok there Goes!! Wake Snip Chop,, and well it worked , i was able to get 5 weeks of veg time in, almost doubling my veg time and the plants were sturdy'er and have thicker stems than my previous grows,, No larf, no popcorn, just tops, and the mainlining kept them short,, so it all fits in my space,, I did leave more leaves on than nug buckets did once i had them in thier shapes, the lower fans that are left are yellowing out, and some more leafs will come out as i pass week 7,, mostly because i am fearful of any mold or bud rot, just want to have some circulation,,

Overall though it was a huge departure from what i did the last 2 grows,
 

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
I really had to allow myself to go "outside of my comfort zone" on this grow, especially early on,, I would read the mainling instructions and look the plant and say to myself, Ok there Goes!! Wake Snip Chop,, and well it worked , i was able to get 5 weeks of veg time in, almost doubling my veg time and the plants were sturdy'er and have thicker stems than my previous grows,, No larf, no popcorn, just tops, and the mainlining kept them short,, so it all fits in my space,, I did leave more leaves on than nug buckets did once i had them in thier shapes, the lower fans that are left are yellowing out, and some more leafs will come out as i pass week 7,, mostly because i am fearful of any mold or bud rot, just want to have some circulation,,

Overall though it was a huge departure from what i did the last 2 grows,
Yeah I dont know if I will be able to do all that cutting but maybe after seeing your results it will be easier (-;
 

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
the whole time in the early going i set myself at ease,, knowing that if i killed them,, or hurt them horribly,, all i had to do was go back over to the state legal store and buy some more cheap clones ,, hahahha,, the joys of legal growing
Sadly I do not have that option but hopefully will have some moms going by then (planning on trying to take some clones from my current ladies in veg before flipping to flower) and can re clone if needed lol
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
Sadly I do not have that option but hopefully will have some moms going by then (planning on trying to take some clones from my current ladies in veg before flipping to flower) and can re clone if needed lol
i remember the days i used to grow in So Cal during ROnald Regan days,, and his war on drugs,, it was spooky scary,, i feel i was really underestimating what Hard Time would have been like,, its a relief to not be under that strain,, its partly why i went thru 30 years of prohibition ,, things would have been so much better if MJ was legal across the board,, my and booze were a bad combination
 

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
its good you have space to dedicate to a MOM,,, keep yourself in constant supply
Yeah hopefully I will have a veg flower mom and drying room all set up soon, I have the mom room im using from veg atm, i need to light proof between what I am using for my flower room now and what I want to be my veg area (right now im using it as a secondary light proof room basically. long term goals lol
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
oh, on another note,, @Humanrob even did an early mainline on some of his plants and whacked half the plant off and was pleasantly surprised at how well they not only bounced back but mainifolded for him,, was that some of your seedling?
Actually, that was one of the pair of Jack Herer clones. One clone I picked up had a nice form, but the other one was too tall and had too much space between the nodes, and I ended out cutting the little thing almost in half. I was really worried that it might get shocked and never be the same or maybe take a long time to recover, but in the end it was a much stronger plant than the other, with much thicker main branches. That's just one experience so it's totally anecdotal, but it made an impression on me.
 

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
Not very fun pics as no flowers yet but some pics of the ladies after their recovery from bondage. Going to be flowering soon. I think I might just cull those 2 little ones clone from the 3 big ones put them under a screen and push them sideways the first few weeks of stretch time to keep them low. What do you guys think?
 

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PDX Joe

Well-Known Member
Not very fun pics as no flowers yet but some pics of the ladies after their recovery from bondage. Going to be flowering soon. I think I might just cull those 2 little ones clone from the 3 big ones put them under a screen and push them sideways the first few weeks of stretch time to keep them low. What do you guys think?
Yeah, the larger plants may crowd out the smaller ones. Once the larger ones stretch they can maybe fill up that open space?
 
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